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1) Toss Up - Biology - Short Answer

What is the scientific name of the model organism used by Thomas Hunt Morgan in his landmark experiments which were critical to the development of the chromosome theory of inheritance which is commonly known as the fruit fly?

ANSWER: Drosophila melanogaster
1) Bonus - Biology - Short Answer

What are the last names of the two scientists that wrote the article titled "Independent functions of viral proteins and nucleic acid in growth of bacteriophage" that was published in the Journal of General Physiology in the year 1952?

ANSWER: Hershey and Chase
2) Toss Up - Earth And Space - Short Answer

What type of rock comes in layers?

ANSWER: Sedimentary
2) Bonus - Earth And Space - Short Answer

What color is a flame of lithium?

ANSWER: red
3) Toss Up - Physics - Multiple Choice

Which of the following particles is a hadron?
W) a photon
X) a kaon
Y) a gluon
Z) a quark

ANSWER: X) A KAON
3) Bonus - Physics - Multiple Choice

Which of the following physical properties exhibits T-symmetry?
W) linear momentum
X) angular momentum
Y) magnetic field
Z) total energy

ANSWER: Z) TOTAL ENERGY
4) Toss Up - Astronomy - Short Answer

Of the following 5 planets, name all that can be in opposition to the Sun: Venus, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter

ANSWER: Saturn, Mars, And Jupiter (Accept In Any Order)
4) Bonus - Astronomy - Multiple Choice

ultiple choice In the second step of the proton-proton chain, which of the following occurs:
W) a proton combines with deuterium to produce helium-3 and a gamma ray is emitted
X) a neutron combines with deuterium to produce helium-3 and a neutrino is emitted
Y) a proton combines with deuterium to produce helium-3 and a neutrino ray is emitted
Z) a neutron combines with deuterium to produce helium-2 and a positron is emitted

ANSWER: W) a proton combines with deuterium to produce helium-3 and a gamma ray is emitted
5) Toss Up - Earth Science - Multiple Choice

In which of the following locations is oceanic crust converging with oceanic crust:
W) the Aleutian Islands
X) the Himalayan Mountains
Y) the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Z) the East Pacific Rise

ANSWER: W) THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5) Bonus - Earth Science - Multiple Choice

About what percent of all glaciers in the world are retreating today:
W) 25%
X) 50%
Y) 75%
Z) 100%

ANSWER: Z) 100%
6) Toss Up - Physics - Multiple Choice

Newton’s first law is often referred to as which of the following?
W) The law of straight-line motion
X) The law of momentum
Y) The law of inertia
Z) F = ma

ANSWER: Y-- THE LAW OF INERTIA
6) Bonus - Physics - Multiple Choice

The statement, “In regions where fluid velocity is smaller, the pressure is higher, and vice versa,” is known as the principle of
W) Pascal.
X) Bernoulli.
Y) Torricelli.
Z) Archimedes.

ANSWER: X-- BERNOULLI
7) Toss Up - Physics - Short Answer

Who eventually won the "War of Currents"?

ANSWER: NIKOLA TESLA
7) Bonus - Physics - Short Answer

What kind of an electric current system can a transformer be used in?

ANSWER: ALTERNATING CURREN
8) Toss Up - Astronomy - Multiple Choice

What causes the gas tail of a comet to always point away from the sun?
W) solar wind
X) air pressure
Y) centrifugal force
Z) gravity

ANSWER: W) solar wind
8) Bonus - Astronomy - Short Answer

The process which prevents the complete gravitational collapse of a White Dwarf star is known as

ANSWER: electron degeneracy
9) Toss Up - Physics - Short Answer

For two sound sources heard simultaneously, one of which vibrates at 50 hertz and the other vibrates at 60 hertz, what is the beat frequency in beats per second?

ANSWER: 10
9) Bonus - Physics - Short Answer

What is the acceleration of a bike traveling in a straight line if the bike slows from 40 km/hr to 10 km/hr in 5 seconds? Give your answer in km/hr/sec.

ANSWER: -6 (Solution: a = v2 - v1 / A t = (10 - 40)/5 = -6 Km/hr/s)
10) Toss Up - Chemistry - Multiple Choice

Which of the following conditions are favorable to a spontaneous reaction?
W) Low Temperature
X) Positive ΔH
Y) Increase in Entropy
Z) Higher concentration of reactants

ANSWER: Y) Increase in Entropy
10) Bonus - Chemistry - Short Answer

Using arene substitution patterns, what is another name for 1,4-Dimethylbenzene?

ANSWER: Para-xylene
11) Toss Up - Physics - Short Answer

In 1947 the speed of sound was first exceeded, when an American rocket propelled airplane reached Mach 1.06. What was the name of the plane?

ANSWER: BELL X-1
11) Bonus - Physics - Multiple Choice

In 1932 Anderson used the bubble chamber to detect which particle?.
W) antiproton
X) positron
Y) tauon
Z) Neutron

ANSWER: X) POSITRON
12) Toss Up - Biology - Multiple Choice

Which of the following molecules are NOT covalently attached to proteins as post-translational modifications?
W) Ubiquitins
X) Phosphates
Y) Ions such as Ca+2 and Mg+2
Z) Carbohydrate groups

ANSWER: Y) IONS SUCH AS Ca+2 AND Mg+2
12) Bonus - Biology - Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is NOT correct regarding prions?
W) They can cause scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases [KROYTS-felt Jakob]
X) They infect the same taxa [TAK-suh] as viroids [VY-roids]
Y) They can cause degenerative brain diseases
Z) They are an infectious agent comprised entirely of protein

ANSWER: X) THEY INFECT THE SAME TAXA AS VIROIDS
13) Toss Up - Math - Multiple Choice

The graph of `r = 3\sec(\theta)` (read as: r = 3 secant theta) is a:
W) parabola
X) circle
Y) hyperbola
Z) line

ANSWER: Z) LINE
13) Bonus - Math - Short Answer

Give the resulting vector for the cross product of vector `(:1,0,0:)` with vector `(:0,0,1:)`:

ANSWER: `(:0,-1,0:)`
14) Toss Up - Biology - Multiple Choice

Which of the following options explains the inheritance pattern of Huntington's disease, and why this pattern occurs?
W) Only passed on through the mother, since mitochondrial genes are found in the egg
X) Only passed on through the mother, since the Y chromosome does not have a copy of the responsible gene.
Y) Becomes more severe over successive generations, since the responsible gene accumulates more and more copies of the same sequence.
Z) Becomes more severe over successive generations, since misfolded proteins are passed on through the egg cell.

ANSWER: Y) Becomes more severe over successive generations, since the responsible gene accumulates more and more copies of the same sequence.
14) Bonus - Biology - Short Answer

What is the name for mobile genetic elements, famously able to affect kernel color in maize, that were discovered by Barbara McClintock?

ANSWER: Transposons or transposable elements
15) Toss Up - Math - Short Answer

Giving your answer in terms of pi and in inches, what is the arc-length of a semi-circle whose diameter is 18 inches?

ANSWER: 9 pi
15) Bonus - Math - Short Answer

What is the specific name for a common tangent that intersects the segment joining the centers of 2 circles?

ANSWER: Internal Common Tangent (Accept: Internal Or Internal)
16) Toss Up - Math - Short Answer

Named after a German mathematician, what type of bottle has one surface with no edges and thus neither an outside nor an inside?

ANSWER: KLEIN BOTTLE (ACCEPT: KLEIN)
16) Bonus - Math - Short Answer

If `sintheta = sqrt(3)/2` and `theta` terminates in Quadrant II of the Cartesian coordinate system, in a unit circle find `costheta`:

ANSWER: -1/2 (ACCEPT: -0.5) (answer must be negative) (Solution: `r^2 = x^2 + y^2; 1^2 = x^2 + (sqrt(3)/2)^2; x^2 = 1/4; x = 1/2`; negative for Quad II)
17) Toss Up - Earth Science - Multiple Choice

A contour map of the hydraulic head in a confined aquifer is called the
W) water table.
X) potentiometric surface.
Y) terrain.
Z) slope.

ANSWER: X-- POTENTIOMETRIC SURFACE
17) Bonus - Earth Science - Multiple Choice

Which is not an example of a concordant rock mass?
W) Lopolith
X) Sill
Y) Laccolith
Z) Dike

ANSWER: Z-- DIKE
18) Toss Up - Earth Science - Short Answer

Name all of the following 4 types of pelagic or marine sediments that are composed of more than 30% of the skeletal remains of microscopic organisms: calcareous (read as: kal-CARE-ee-ous) ooze; terrigenous sediments; red clay; siliceous ooze

ANSWER: calcareous ooze; siliceous ooze
18) Bonus - Earth Science - Multiple Choice

Fossils are rarely found in such rocks as:
W) limestone
X) sandstone
Y) shale
Z) granite

ANSWER: Z) granite
19) Toss Up - Physics - Multiple Choice

For a parallel-plate capacitor with plate area “A” and plate separation “d,” the capacitance is proportional to which of the following?
W) A divided by d squared
X) A times d
Y) A divided by d
Z) d divided by A

ANSWER: Y-- A DIVIDED BY D
19) Bonus - Physics - Short Answer

The speed at which a wave propagates down a string is 300 meters per second. If the frequency of this wave is 150 Hertz, what is the wavelength of this wave?

ANSWER: 2 METERS
20) Toss Up - Biology - Short Answer

What is the most common term used in genetics to describe the observable physical characteristics of an organism caused by the expression of a gene or set of genes?

ANSWER: PHENOTYPE
20) Bonus - Biology - Multiple Choice

Which of these media is used for maintaining cell growth?
W) Lysogeny Broth Media
X) M9 Media
Y) Cell Capture Media
Z) Cold Static Media

ANSWER: X) M9 Media
21) Toss Up - Astronomy - Short Answer

The extraterrestrial impact hypothesis of dinosaur extinction is based onfinding anomalously high concentrations of a certain element at the geological boundary betweenthe Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. What is the name of this element which was found?

ANSWER: iridium
21) Bonus - Astronomy - Multiple Choice

One of the largest volcanos in our solar system-if not the largest-is named Olympus Mons. This volcano is located on:
W) Jupiter's moon Callisto
X) Venus
Y) Saturn's moon Titan
Z) Mars

ANSWER: Z) Mars
22) Toss Up - Physics - Multiple Choice

When light is incident upon a boundary at Brewster’s angle, the angle, the angle between the reflected light and the refracted light must be
W) 30°
X) 45°
Y) 60°
Z) 90°

ANSWER: Z) 90°
22) Bonus - Physics - Multiple Choice

When light is incident upon a boundary at Brewster’s angle,
W) the reflected light is plane polarized parallel to the boundary surface
X) the refracted light is plane polarized parallel to the boundary surface
Y) the reflected light is plane polarized perpendicular to the boundary surface
Z) the refracted light is plane polarized perpendicular to the boundary surface

ANSWER: W) THE REFLECTED LIGHT IS PLANE POLARIZED PARALLEL TO THE BOUNDARY SURFACE
23) Toss Up - Chemistry - Multiple Choice

Which of the following acids has a conjugate base which is weak?
W) Acetic acid
X) Hydrofluoric acid
Y) Oxalic acid
Z) Benzoic acid

ANSWER: W) Acetic acid
23) Bonus - Chemistry - Multiple Choice

The Born-Haber cycle most directly results from which of the following?
W) Second Law of Thermodynamics
X) Avogadro's Law
Y) Conservation of energy
Z) Conservation of Charge

ANSWER: Y) Conservation of energy
24) Toss Up - Physics - Multiple Choice

A 10 volt battery connected to a capacitor delivers a charge of 0.5 coulombs. The capacitance of the capacitor is
W) 0.02 farads.
X) 0.05 farads.
Y) 2 farads.
Z) 5 farads.

ANSWER: X-- 0.05 FARADS
24) Bonus - Physics - Multiple Choice

A car is moving along a straight horizontal road at a speed of 20 meters per second. The brakes are applied and a constant force of 5000 Newtons decelerates the car to a stop in 10 seconds. The mass of the car is
W) 1250 kilograms.
X) 2500 kilograms.
Y) 5000 kilograms.
Z) 10,000 kilograms.

ANSWER: X-- 2500 KILOGRAMS
25) Toss Up - Chemistry - Multiple Choice

If you were looking to purchase magnesium sulfate in a retail store in the U.S., which of the following would you be correct in buying:
W) alum
X) cream of tartar
Y) soda ash
Z) Epsom salt

ANSWER: Z) EPSOM SALT
25) Bonus - Chemistry - Short Answer

Using proper chemical nomenclature, finish balancing the following equation: Fe2O3 + 3CO yields what, assuming the iron is totally reduced:

ANSWER: 2Fe + 3CO2